Far From White
by Sky Hunter
Summary: After a group of travelers encounter a 'not so normal' horse in a forest of Valdermar, the lives of some may take a turn towards the unexpected.
1. Chapter 1

Disclaimer; Valdermar and anything in it, belongs to Mercedes Lackey.

Despite any trouble he might have caused at home and the need to get away from them, sitting in a makeshift shelter under a tree-- in the middle of a storm which seemed adamant at burying them under tons of sleet. That was the last place that Teirgan would have wished to be, especially in the company of his horse, a wet gryphon, a Companion and its herald. Though he had to admit.., despite the not too easy on the nose smell of wet gryphon, it had so far been more pleasant company that the rather sourly, fledgling herald and the apparently aloof Companion.

Well, until the gryphon had curled up and covered her head with a wing to sleep that was. But at least the creature had been quite willing to carry on a conversation until then, and certainly what the gryphon had told him about the city she came from, White Gryphon or something, had been facinating enough.

The herald to be however, that one didn't appear to be interested in doing anything but looking everywhere but at Teirgan, occationally taking a sip from the much too bitter cup of tea which Teir had provided. Other than providing the information that she had recently been Chosen and was on her way to Haven with her Companion, the young woman had hardly uttered a word. Not that Teirgan cared, making a living as a trader and whatever else that could earn him some money, he didn't much care about the Heralds and what they stood for. Well, he had to admit that they did some good for Valdemar and its people, but in day to day matters he didn't exactly care much about them and their white 'horses'.

_And you..., stay out of my thoughts, _he thought as the Companion looked over at him.

Teirgan sighed as he tossed aside his now empty cup, those 'white horses' were even worse than their riders. Having traveled quite a bit throughout Valdemar and elsewhere, he knew better than to believe that those Companions were nothing more than clever horses. They also had that inconvenient ability of picking up stray thoughts if one weren't careful..

Placing another few pieces of wood in the fire, Teirgan frowned as he looked outside, where sleet was still dropping from the sky in buckets. Well, the thought of going outside was hardly tempting, but there of-course emptying his bladder inside the shelter was out of the question.

Leaving his temporary traveling companions in the shelter, he pulled the hood of his jacket over his head as he pushed aside some branches and walked outside, shuddering as some of the sleet found its way onto his face. It was bad enough in the shelter, despite the fire they had managed to light, but outside it was many times worse. He would have to get done with this quickly, the sooner her could get back to sitting by that fire, the better. Keeping his hands inside the wool-lined sleeves of his jacket, he made his way over to the next tree as quickly as he could through the slush covering the ground.

There was a snort, its source being only inches from Teirgan's right ear, and as he startled and turned in the direction it had came from-- he found himself face to face with a huge creature. For several long moments, he was unable to recognize what the creature was through the falling sleet-- and he could only stare with eyes wide open in a mix of surprise and fear.

Head held high, a horse was standing in front of him, looking at him with strange, tawny eyes.

At least he thought it was a horse...

Not that he had really seen a horse that had to be nearly two meters tall at the shoulders, and upon getting a proper look at it-- neither a red dun horse with a blaze of white running down its broad chest, or with similary colored stripes at its legs either.

The horse looked at Teirgan, and Teirgan looked at the horse.


	2. Chapter 2

Disclaimer: Valdemar, and anything at Velgarth belongs to Mercedes Lackey. Any original characters in the story are mine, you can't have them ;-)

Its nostrils flaring slightly, the horse arched its neck-- both ears flicking forwards as it tilted its head to watch Teirgan with one strangely colored eye.

Standing there, Teirgan couldn't help but feel a growing nervousness.

It was really too dark for him to determine the horse's gender without moving, which was probably the last thing he wanted to do at the moment-- anything that might startle the beast into attacking had to be avoided.

Certainly most horses would just run if frightened, some stallions could be rather unpredictable, if the one in front of him was one..

And of-course there was the fact that stumbling over such a strange-looking horse in the middle of nowhere was rather strange no matter how one looked at it. Valdemar wasn't at war at the present as far as he knew, but that didn't mean that there was a lack of potentially dangerous people out there.

Himself included.

Well, at least he tried to make a reputation for himself in certain places..

_Hunnnnn_, said the horse, and staring at it-- Teirgan caught himself in wondering if the beast was amused by the whole situation.

_Well, finding odd horses wandering around in a storm like this was certainly not something that would happen every day, _he thought, finding himself stumbling backwards a moment later as the horse gave him a nudge with its muzzle.

"Hey, careful there!" he grumbled, "I'm hardly indestructible. And if you want any food, which I'm sure that you do-- you better behave!".

While scanning the forest around for any signs of that someone might be sneaking up on them, something that was really quite pointless since he couldn't see more than a few meters through the falling sleet, he slowly reached up with a hand to give the horse a light pat at the neck. He had no idea what to do with it really, considering that it might bring unwanted visitors to him and the others if anyone were out there looking for the horse.

Obviously taking it into the shelter posed another heap of problems, as he had no idea how it would react to his own horse or the companion, and dealing with a horse that size who had decided that it didn't like its company, or liked it too much-- was more than enough to make him frown. In the end, the best thing to do might be to just leave it outside with any food that they could spare and hope that it would make it through the storm..

Teirgan wasn't really given much more time to mull over the problem, as just then the Companion poked its head out of the shelter, undoubtely to see what was taking him so long..

And it was just then that the strange horse decided to strike.

In a split second, the horse had gotten a good hold at the shoulder of Teirgan's fortunately quite sturdy jacket, and then he found himself nearly lifted into the air as the horse pulled him along with it. Turning around with a swiftness that was a bit uncanny considering its size and the closeness or the trees, it headed away from the shelter and further into the forest at a brisk walk.

Shortly after however, that walk quickened into a trot as Teirgan heard something come after them, no doubt the Companion had seen what had happened when it looked outside. Whether it was accompanied by its Herald or not though.., Teirgan didn't know as he really didn't want to risk looking back, in case doing so might get his head in the way of a branch or something.

At least by trying to look forwards, which wasn't easy when he was being pulled along by a horse, he might use an arm to shield his face if necessary. Though another source of discomfort was the rather difficult task of trying to avoid breaking anything against the legs of the horse as it moved.

Which was quite exhausting.

Deciding that he really didn't want to wait and see where the horse would bring him, Teirgan swung his arm up to strike at the size of its head. That proved quite useless too though, as he really only managed to acquire an aching hand, and a aching hip too as one of the horse's knees knocked into it quite hard.

Uttering a string of words that would certainly not have been suitable in the presence of most people, had he cared, he let the horse drag him along for a while longer as he tried to come up with a better method of making it let go off him.

Too bad that he hadn't thought of bringing his knife when he had went outside a little while ago.

But then again, most sane people would hardly expect to find themselves abducted by a damned horse.

It was then that the horse decided to come to a skidding stop, and then Teirgan found himself released-- to fall onto the rather wet, cold and very uncomfortable ground. As he started to turn however, grimacing in a mix of anger and reacting to the ice and sleet which had found its way past the neck of his jacket, he found himself looking at someone at the ground as the horse nudged him around.

_Considering that you have the advantage of being equipped with hands, and a nifty pair of opposable thumbs too, would you mind helping her?_

It took Teirgan a moment or two before he realized that it had been the horse that spoke to him, during which it looked at him with a look of unmistakeable annoyance at its long face. And slack jawed(which didn't really do much for his appearance), he stared at it in a mix of surprise and disbelief.

Still, compared to the being at the ground, a talking horse that was not a Companion as far as he knew wasn't that much out of the ordinary.


	3. Chapter 3

Disclaimer; Velgarth, Valdemar and everything in it, belongs to Mercedes Lackey. Any original characters and the ravencat as it is described belong to me. A description of any original races used in this story, can be obtained by asking for it.

Laying at the ground, one black wing twisted in a position that left little doubt about that it had to be broken, was a small creature resembling a gryphon.

Well, at a lenght that Teirgan estimated to be close to about three meters, small might not be the correct word to describe it-- though it certainly would be when compared to a gryphon. The feline back part of it looked almost too thing though, which certainly helped to make it look smaller than it truly was at first glance.

The front part though, which bore a strong resemblance to a raven with what appeared to be a fully functional pair of ears on top of its head, was certainly not like the raptor-type bird of any gryphon Teirgan had heard about. Also its color was a bit unusual, judging by the only gryphon he had seen up close this far.

While its wings were completely black, the rest of its plumage and fur was a speckled black and tawny, at least the parts that weren't full of mud after something that had to have been a nasty fall.

:_It would be quite helpful if you could be of some use_: the strange horse said, tossing its head to get rid of some of the sleet which had gathered in its mane::_get my friends there to that shelter of yours would be a good start, I noticed that you had a fire going. Even better if you can get some splints on the ravencat's wing, I don't know if he suffered any other injuries as well though.._:

With a swish of its tail, the horse walked over to what at first glance looked like a pile of fur at the ground right behind the creature it had refered to as a 'ravencat'. It did take Teirgan a few moments to realize that there was someone inside all that fur-- and as it moved in response to the horse's approach, he became quite certain of that it was a human wearing several fur coats.

Well, from what he could see, it at least appeared to be human.

"Let me get this right.." he began, pausing for a few moments as the Companion and his Herald moved up beside him, "you drag me out here, making me think that I might have encountered some kind of changehorse... And when you finally decide to make it known that you can speak, it's to demand that we help one of your friends?"

The horse raised its head to its full height::_acctualy...yes. I would prefer that you did so out of the kindness of your hearts though, as I would prefer not to have to resort to any persuasion-- something which I believe won't do any of us any good_:

Making a point by placing one large forehoof quite audibly onto the ground when turning partly, the horse looked over at the Companion and the Herald.

:_Yes, things are certainly different here.. But while I will admit that I have a disadvantage due to that, I would rather not that you do any meddling with that magic or 'mindmagic' of yours. As for my name, it is Hinrayu-- I will have to leave it up to my companions to decide whether they wish to reveal their names or not_:

Looking at each other, the Herald and the Companion obviously communicated, although Teirgan couldn't hear anything, he had seen it often enough to realize what was going on.

"We'll try to help" the Herald said, looking more than a little nervous, "Truda will help me, as she knows a bit about the matter of splinting a wing".

Realizing that the Herald wasn't the slightest keen on doing something like setting a number of broken bones, the thought probably made the kid feel rather unwell, Teirgan forcibly held back a wry grin. Better the kid than him though, as after being dragged along against his will, he wasn't exactly in a mood to do anything to help-- so crossing his arms, he watched as the Herald slowly approached the 'ravencat'.

The horse.., Hinrayu, wrinkled her nose-- making Teirgan wonder if the horse was as amused as he was.

:_It is no need to worry, he's not going to wake up and peck your eyes out, I think.. He's got a thick scull, but I believe he managed to knock himself out quite throughoutly_:

Lowering her head to touch the person in the fur coats with her muzzle, she became quiet for a few moments::_would you need some light to work by, or would it be better to haul them back to that shelter of yours?_:

With a loud snort, the Companion turned around to face Hinrayu, its stance and expression speaking of annoyance as it walked forwards to stop right in front of the horse.

And while the Herald and Teirgan watched, the Herald with anxiousness visible on his face, the two 'equines' circled around each other-- the topic of whatever they were talking about clearly affecting both emotionally.

In fact, Teirgan winced as he felt something like a pressure growing at the back of his mind, not painful really- but certainly not comfortable either.

Whatever Hinrayu and Truda were discussing, neither of them were happy.

Finally, after..., Teirgan wasn't sure about how much time that had passed-- both stopped circling and appeared to relax slightly. The Herald, who had been sitting at his knees beside the 'ravencat', slowly exhaled-- undoubtely relieved that nothing had happened. Then he stood up and walked slowly over to Truda to stand beside her, with one hand at the Companion's neck.

And both watched the horse, Hinrayu.

:_If...you could get the ravencat, carefully, up on my back while I'm laying down, we will be going back to your shelter_: Hinrayu said, her voice cold::_it would also be helpful if you could make sure that he doesn't fall off, you'll have to sit on my back to do that I believe_:

Clenching his teeth, Teirgan looked at her, not the least tempted to do anything to aid her.

"Why?" he asked, "I don't exactly have any good reasons to do anything that you want, do I? So give me one, if you can".

The muscles in Hinrayu's neck tensed as she looked back at him, she was certainly not happy about the answer he had given her.


End file.
